


Enchanted (Chapter 1)

by sunnywithclouds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bad Harry Potter, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Borgin and Burkes (Harry Potter), Dark Harry Potter, Enchanted items, Gryffindor, Harry/Draco eventually, I have a preoccupation with book 6, M/M, Slytherin, The ole switcheroo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2020-12-17 17:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21058457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnywithclouds/pseuds/sunnywithclouds
Summary: What if Harry changed his allegiance? What if it was brought about accidentally?  What if no one, not Harry, not his friends, not Borgin, not Voldemort, had any intention of it happening... But it did.What would happen when 'The Chosen One" decided he liked the idea of a Wizarding World, if not an entire world, under the power of Voldemort?And what will Draco think of his primary enemy suddenly wanting to be friends? Will he embrace the unlikely kinship?Will he let Harry help him with the dark plans he has to undertake by the end of the year?-----------------------Chapter One Summary - When Hermione fails to get any information out of Mr Borgin after the Trio followed Draco to Borgin & Burkes Harry decides to take matters into his own hands.  But just what is he getting into with the ring that Borgin sells him...Not even Borgin is aware of just what he's started, the changes in Harry that are to come, and how this one transaction will alter the fate of the whole Wizarding World.--------------------





	1. Chapter 1

_August 3rd, 1996 - Knockturn Alley_

"Open up!"

Harry repeated the words a few times, banging on the door roughly. Hermione and Ron were huddled under the invisibility cloak a few steps away while he tried to get Borgin back to the door.

He should have known Hermione wouldn't have been subtle enough to try and figure out what Draco had been doing and looking at in the shop. But she moved so swiftly he hadn't been able to stop her.

Predictably she'd gotten kicked out. And then Borgin put the closed sign in the window.

But Harry was not going to be put off by that.

"Open the door, Borgin!" He slammed his fist harder, hard enough to rattle the glass and start attracting attention. Abruptly the door opened and a gnarled hand shot out and dragged him inside.

"Stop your racket!" Borgin hissed, poking a finger into his face. It took only a few moments before recognition crawled across his aged features. Realizing who it was he was talking to

"Harry Potter. Lowering himself to demand entrance to my store..." Borgin looked caught between extreme amusement and extreme displeasure.

"Whatever can I help you with?" He asked in an overly dramatic display of hospitality which included a bow and a gracious wave of his hand towards the entirety of the shop behind him.

"I want to know what Draco Malfoy was looking at." Harry said, not even bothering to try and come up with a story. He'd taken his wand out and was pointing it, loosely held, towards Borgin. A threat but not a strong one. At least not yet.

"Why would I divulge customer information to you?" Borgin spoke easily, moving behind the counter. He kept his eyes on Harry as he went to display case, slowly unlocking it. "Certainly if you bought anything here, you would want confidentiality, wouldn't you?"

"I'm not here to play games. I'm here for answers. Tell me, now. What did Draco Malfoy come in here, what did he want fixed?"

"A Vanishing Cabinet." Borgin said in a surprising display of truthfulness. He had taken a tray of jewelry and small trinkets out of the case and set it on the counter. "But it won't suit the purpose he wants it for."

"What does he want it for?" Harry was slightly unsure of what to do now. He hadn't expected an answer from Borgin, and while it was extremely possible that he was lying, something in him said he wasn't. 

"Now that I really can't tell you. But I can show you what it is he should have been asking for."

Harry approached the counter warily, keeping his wand pointed at Borgin as he looked at the tray of assorted bits and pieces and extremely ornate jewelry. This was junk, he was sure. All crammed together on a tray with no apparent regard to care for any of it. He scoffed, nodding his head towards it. "Really?"

"Surely you more than anyone else should know not to judge a book by it's cover, Mr Potter." 

Borgin spoke in a tone of genial rebuke towards his young 'customer', using a small cloth to pick up the slimmest of silver rings. There was no stone, no carving to it, just a very thin line of silver. It did, somehow, seem to shine brighter than any of the other rings. Somehow it seemed more attractive and more beguiling than even the most ornate piece on the tray.

"What is that?" Harry asked, curiosity winning out over animosity.

"It is the thing Draco should have wanted. And what I would have offered him if he hadn't threatened me. I assume you saw what happened while Mr Malfoy was in here, otherwise why would your bushy haired, tactless friend come in here... And now you, yourself."

Harry weighed this information carefully. Part of him not understanding why Borgin would offer him this information so easily, but part of him also understanding why, given how Draco had acted with him. Perhaps he was tired of the way the Malfoys treated him. This was, after all, the second time Harry had seen Draco in Borgin & Burkes and both times he wasn't exactly a pleasant customer. Maybe Borgin wasn't interested in whatever it was Draco was doing, maybe he didn't care a bit and this was his revenge. Not giving Draco what he really needed...

But if it _was_ something Draco needed there was a good chance the other boy would eventually figure that out and come back for it.

"How much?" Harry asked, prepared to have to find a way to get more money from Gringott's and come back for it, all while not letting Mr and Mrs Weasley know what he was up to.

"Twenty Galleons. A mere twenty Galleons and it is yours." Borgin said with a hint of a weasel like smile.

"Why so little?" Harry asked, once again suspicious, his chin raising a bit. "What does it do?"

"It's a very particular piece. A very niche market, I couldn't sell it for more than that. I haven't been able to sell it for twenty Galleons yet, it's sat in my case for years." Borgin waved a hand dismissively about why the price was so low. "Besides, I would rather anyone have it than Draco Malfoy." 

The shop keeper sniffed in a particularly insulted way that drove home to Harry that he was well and truly tired of the Malfoys. Maybe Draco in particular. And that was a feeling he understood.

"But what does it do?"

"A subtle enchantment." Borgin said, already laying the ring and cloth on the counter, pushing it towards Harry by the fabric. "It alters the perception of the wearer. Opens their mind to things they had never before considered."

"And this is what Draco should have actually taken?" To Harry it sounded... boring. No wonder no one else had bought it before. What on earth was it actually good for? Anyone could reconsider a situation or a choice if they wanted to.

"Oh yes. Of that I am quite sure." 

Borgin's nod to Harry was grave, his tone serious and rather dark. Enough that Harry swallowed, pocketing his wand again as he looked at the ring. Considered his options.

It wasn't very much money for something that was obviously not that interesting. Even if Borgin was lying through his teeth it wasn't going to be a big set back.

But if Borgin wasn't lying and the success of whatever Draco was up to did hinge on this ring... There was every reason in the world to buy it.

"I'll take it." He said, pulling his money out. He counted Galleons onto the counter and waited while Borgin swept the coins up and deposited them into the till.

"Given the times, and who you are. I would suggest you wear the item out and not take a bill of sale." Borgin said, speaking without looking at Harry as he put the rest of the tray away. "Such a small ring, it won't be noticed by those around you. No questions asked, no worries for you at all."

Harry lifted one shoulder in a small shrug, thinking that made sense. He picked up the ring, trying it on a couple of fingers before sliding it onto his left pinky. It fit there nicely and Borgin was right. The ring was so thin it was hardly noticeable. The sheen and draw that it had next to the other pieces of jewelry was gone.

He didn't say thank you. As far as he was concerned he and Borgin had both done each other a favour and were even. He simply left the store, letting the door close behind him as he went back down to the street and disappeared under the invisibility cloak, ready to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened.

Inside the shop, Borgin let out a very long breath, like he'd been holding it the entire time Harry was in there.

"It's done." 

He talked to what seemed to be the empty shop, but after he spoke there was movement from the shadows and a tall thin woman approached the counter.

"Thank you, Borgin." Narcissa said with a slight and polite incline of her head. 

"How did you know they would be here?" He normally didn't plague his customers with questions but given the circumstances he felt he was owed at least a few answers.

"I wasn't completely sure. But I knew Draco was coming here... He didn't tell me but he isn't the most subtle with plans." Narcissa allowed herself a small and obviously affectionate smile when speaking about her son's shortcomings. "I thought there was a good chance he would be followed, and I wanted to be sure that those following him were put off the scent. You sold Harry Potter something meaningless, I assume?"

"Completely." Borgin said with a wave. "Bit of silver that wouldn't change the mind of anyone. I wore it for a week after I bought it from someone and all it did was make me question what I really wanted for lunch every day."

"Good. The Dark Lord doesn't want any harm to come to Harry Potter unless he is the one to deliver it." 

Narcissa spoke stiffly, and unless Borgin was mistaken there was a trace of fear there. On the surface her loyalty was worn proud, but under it was the imprisonment of her husband, and whatever task Draco had been set up to do.

Not that that was any of his concern.

"All will be well, My Lady Malfoy." He said easily, raising one hand and bowing slightly as she swept out of the shop.

And he truly believed that statement.


	2. Ring ("Enchanted" Chapter 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Harry changed his allegiance? What if it was brought about accidentally? What if no one, not Harry, not his friends, not Borgin, not Voldemort, had any intention of it happening... But it did.  
What would happen when 'The Chosen One" decided he liked the idea of a Wizarding World, if not an entire world, under the power of Voldemort?
> 
> Chapter Summary - Harry, Ron and Hermione are heading back to Hogwarts and Harry, for one, can't wait to maybe get a little space. Even from his closest friends... He's tired of talking about what Draco might be up to. It just doesn't seem to be their business... And even he IS up to something, Harry is sure he has a good reason for it. 
> 
> Some events line up to the Canon book 6, and some don't as we start to deviate down a different path.
> 
> \-------
> 
> \--Along with Inktober, it is Fictober! Following a prompt list from Tumblr I'm going to write short fics based around those prompts. A friend doing the same is titling each fic with the prompt so I'm totally copying that. ;)
> 
> \--------

_September 1st, 1996 - Return to Hogwarts_

"Harry..." Hermione started and then hesitated, rethinking what she was going to say before continuing. "Do you think we should tell anyone about what happened? About seeing Draco in Borgin & Burkes?"

Harry paused as he was finishing cramming last minute bits and pieces into his trunk, wishing he'd listened to Mrs Weasley the night before to make sure he was done.

"What good would that do?" Harry asked, sitting on the lid of his trunk to make it close, groaning as he got up to retrieve a sock that was his, sticking out from under Ron's wardrobe.

The past month had been good fun at first, but as the weeks went on, Harry started to feel agitated with everyone. At first Ron and Hermione hadn't wanted to listen to him talk endlessly about what had happened at Borgin & Burkes. They didn't agree with him that Draco was up to something nefarious. Or that he could possibly be a Death Eater. They thought it was just Malfoy being Malfoy.

After awhile Harry started to see their way of thinking. But then one day, while they discussed it one last time he sighed, running a hand through his hair and rather dismissively said '_I'm sure if Draco is up to something he has a good reason for it._'

Somehow him saying that kindled something in Ron and Hermione. They were suddenly wanting to discuss everything more, suddenly they wondered if they were wrong. But Harry no longer thought the same. He shut down every conversation on the matter, staunchly deciding that anything Draco was up to, if he was up to something, wasn't their business.

"Hermione, I mean it." Harry said when Hermione bit her lip and looked at him worriedly. "There isn't anything we can do, even if there was something to what Malfoy was doing, it's not our business."

He sat on his trunk again, bounced on it until he heard the locks click and then reached for the handle to lug it out of the room. He looked at Hermione's worried face and smiled at her. "Don't look so down. We're going back to school, I thought you'd be pleased."

They packed off to King's Cross not long afterwards, Harry already having forgotten his conversation with Hermione by the time they arrived.

He found he was actually kind of glad that Ron and Hermione had to go to the front car and patrol for awhile on Prefect duty. He was tired of talking about what Draco Malfoy was up to, and it seemed like no matter what the conversation had been about in the past few weeks, the other two always brought it back to that.

He settled in a compartment with Neville and Luna, welcome and easy company to have. He was actually dozing slightly and comfortably when the compartment door opened and Ron and Hermione stepped in to join them.

"You'll never believe this." Ron said, flopping down onto a seat, leaning back as though he'd just been through something particularly harrowing and mind crushing. "Malfoy's not a Prefect anymore. Or at least he's not doing anything he's supposed to be. Just lounging in his compartment with his mates."

Harry shrugged one shoulder a bit, yawning and thus missing the look that passed between Ron and Hermione.

"Don't you think that's strange, Harry?" Hermione asked almost timidly.

"Not really." He replied, sitting up a bit and smiling. "Likely seems a bit tame after the Inquisitorial Squad Umbridge had him on last year. Reckon he'd rather be back to that. Can't blame him." He shrugged again, leaning forward to try and look out into the walkway, wondering when the lunch trolley would show up.

"Harry.. I..."   
Hermione started but then was cut off when the compartment door opened again, forcing Harry to lean back as well. 

"This is for Harry Potter and for Neville Longbottom." A fourth year girl timidly held out small scrolls of paper to both of the named boys, then all but fled back up the walkway.

Harry unrolled the scroll, seeing first the name at the bottom, then read the rest of it. Only then remembering they were getting a new professor that year. The events leading up to him being at The Burrow, or even the events before they went to Diagon Alley seemed ages ago and not that important.

"Who's Slughorn?" Neville asked, visibly worried.

"New Professor." Harry said, then frowned as he looked at Ron and Hermione who were staring at him. "What?"

"How do you know who he is?" Ron demanded, frowning himself when Harry shrugged. Harry had taken to doing a lot of shrugging in the past few weeks.

"When Dumbledore came to get me, he took me to see him. Had to convince him to come back to Hogwarts."

"And you couldn't have told us about it?" Ron asked, frowning deeper.

"Sorry, I didn't think it was that important. Not like you didn't know we would need a new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts. We do every year."

Harry's dismissive and rather short tone were enough for Ron to clam up again and Harry stood, smiling a bit at Neville. "You coming?"

He slid out of the compartment with Neville trailing behind him, making his way to Compartment C where Slughorn was. He paused for a moment, hearing Draco's voice, leaning in a bit to look covertly into the compartment he heard it from and saw the blonde boy lying across the seats with his head in Pansy Parkinson's lap.

That looked like a bit of fun. He could do without Pansy, really, but the rest...

"Harry?" 

Harry looked up, still smiling a bit to see Neville looking back to him anxiously, realizing the other boy had gotten ahead of him and he vaguely regretfully worked to catch up.

He was surprised when he learned Draco hadn't been asked to the Slug Club lunch. Definitely surprised to find Ginny there, and was interested to meet Blaise Zabini, someone he'd seen in the halls but had no real dealings with before.

The rest of the lunch was without any particular interest. Slughorn was asking a lot of questions, clearly using them to decide who he was most interested in and who he had judged poorly and would not be included in future gatherings.

It was clear by the end that several of the guests to the lunch would be awaiting further judgement by the time they left it. Harry found himself trailing behind Zabini as they walked away to go back to their compartments and change. He kept a few steps back, wanting to hear what Zabini said about the lunch and the people there, but knowing if any of them saw him there they wouldn't say a word.

He lingered at the door, long enough for Draco to notice he was there and glare at him. Zabini turned around and did the same. But Harry looked back at Draco, one side of his mouth quirking up just a bit before he regretfully carried on down the hall, back to his own compartment.

"How was it?" Ron asked as they got into their school uniforms. 

"Fine. I was surprised by who was there. I guess more surprised by who wasn't."

"What do you mean?" Hermione said as she and Luna rejoined them now everyone was dressed.

"Malfoy wasn't there. Either he didn't get an invitation or he wasn't invited."

"Who'd want to invite him anywhere?" Ron said, struggling with his tie until Hermione leaned over to help him.

Harry didn't answer, he didn't feel like arguing with Ron and getting that slightly pained and curious look from Hermione that was beginning to be the norm when Draco came up.

They filed out of the train and headed to the carriages, settling in for the ride up to the castle. Harry was well and truly lost in thought by the time they slid out at the castle gates, not thinking much about the fact that suddenly there was a bottleneck of students until Hermione spoke in an urgent whisper.

"Harry! Your ring!"

"What?" Harry gave his head a slight shake as he drew out of the deep thoughts and refocused on what was actually going on. 

"Filtch is searching everyone. Taking anything that has dark magic. Your ring.. it's..."

Harry scoffed, smiling as he shook his head. "The ring isn't dark magic, Hermione. It doesn't do anything at all."

He looked down at his pinky where the thin line of silver was. It seemed duller somehow, not as silver as before and harder to see than when he put it on. He could feel it, though, and had found that he enjoyed it's presence. Even if it didn't do anything.

Hermione looked unconvinced, but even she brightened a bit as she, then Ron, then Harry passed through Filtch's screening with absolutely no issue.

Dinner passed uneventfully. For Harry, anyways, who couldn't understand the fuss that Ron and Hermione were making about Hagrid not being there. And Snape teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. He tried to make sympathetic and agreeing noises as Ron and Hermione whispered hotly around him about it, but he honestly didn't see what the big deal was.

He was glad when they were done and heading out. Hermione and Ron pushing ahead to lead the first year Gryffindor's to the portrait of the Fat Lady, while Harry lingered again, managing to fall into step behind Draco and his two hulking cronies.

"Finally we'll have someone decent to teach us Defence Against the Dark Arts." Malfoy said while Crabbe and Goyle grunted their agreement. "Not that Umbridge was bad, exactly but..."

"Snape's bound to be more hands on." Harry said casually without thinking, nearly running into Malfoy's back when the blonde stopped and turned around to glare at him.

"What do you mean by that, Potter?" He sneered, his eyes as icy as his tone.

Harry shrugged a bit, raising his eyebrows slightly. "I just mean Snape's been after this position forever, hasn't he? He's bound to be good at it, teach us stuff and maybe be more hands on. Years of preparation for it and all..."

Silence stretched almost uncomfortably long, Malfoy's brows knitting as he tried and seemingly failed to find the veiled threat or insult in Harry's words. He tilted his head, looking at the dark haired boy curiously as Harry looked back at him.

Eventually Draco scoffed, turning to continue walking when he couldn't think of a thing to say in response, which made him far more uncomfortable than he wanted to admit.

"See you around, maybe?" Harry called after him, smiling a bit when Draco's head jerked back to look at him, waving at the blonde before he turned to head through the crowd and up to the Gryffindor dorm.

He did think, though, as he ducked through the portrait hole, he might actually prefer whatever conversation was to be had in Slytherin that night.


	3. Thunder Storm ("Enchanted" Chapter 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Harry changed his allegiance? What if it was brought about accidentally? What if no one, not Harry, not his friends, not Borgin, not Voldemort, had any intention of it happening... But it did.  
What would happen when 'The Chosen One" decided he liked the idea of a Wizarding World, if not an entire world, under the power of Voldemort?
> 
> Chapter Summary - Harry is more than sick of being in the Gryffindor Common room. More than sick of the people there. Really sick of Ron and Hermione... He'd been avoiding being there as much as possible, which put him in the right place at the right time to run into Draco. It kind of sucks that Draco seems so wary of him... But maybe he could win him over...
> 
> \-------
> 
> \--Along with Inktober, it is Fictober! Following a prompt list from Tumblr I'm going to write short fics based around those prompts. A friend doing the same is titling each fic with the prompt so I'm totally copying that. ;)
> 
> \--------

Harry was sitting cross legged in the deep frame of a tall window, looking out across the grounds while a thunder storm raged outside. He'd taken to spending a lot of time sitting there and in other spots around the castle to save himself endless hours in the Gryffindor common room.

He couldn't place exactly why he didn't want to be there, he just didn't find any of the conversation interesting. Ron moaned about life and school work. Hermione chastised them in between scribbling out her own assignments. There was absolutely nothing about those two friendships he found particularly endearing right then. 

Not to mention how much time they spent whispering together. Stopping as soon as Harry got close to them. Or the even more annoying 'meaningful looks' they gave each other often when Harry did decide to say something. It was annoying. Anyone would find that annoying, it wasn't just him being intolerant. 

Yawning, he dug a book out of his bag and leaned back against the stone arch as he opened it, thinking he'd read here until it got dark then decide what to do next.

"What's the matter, Potter? Your sad excuses for friends not want to see you?"

Harry looked up from his book, just a few minutes after he'd started reading, and into the sharp grey eyes of Draco Malfoy who was smirking at him. Harry opted to smile back at him, closing his book.

"Nah. Just didn't feel like being in the common room with them. What are you up to?"

It came out in such a conversational and genial tone that Draco was clearly startled. He stayed silent for a few moments and Harry watched his pale eyebrows knit together, clearly trying to find Harry's angle in this. When he couldn't seem to find anything to scoff back at, Draco held up his hand that had a scroll in it. "Professor Snape wanted McGonagall to have this." 

Harry tilted his head to look at it, smiling a little more. "You didn't pawn it off on Crabbe or Goyle to take for you?"

"Last time I sent one of them, they got lost." Draco said, still wary, and then looking like he was about to die of shock when Harry laughed.

"Good help is hard to find. I mean, they're clearly serving good purpose, but if you set them loose on their own, you're asking too much." Harry said, smirking and arching one eyebrow a bit.

"What is WRONG with you!?" Draco sputtered when Harry continued to talk to him in such a friendly way. He'd taken a step back from the dark haired boy, looking at him like he had eels coming out of his ears.

"Nothing..?" Harry asked, frowning as he scratched the back of his head. "Why?"

"You think you can trick me into whatever is going on? Talk to me nicely, JOKE with me and I'll fall for it that easily?"

Draco took another step back as Harry swung around so he was sitting on the edge of the window ledge, his feet hanging down. 

"I'm not up to anything, I swear." Harry said, then made a noise of frustration when Draco scoffed at him. "Look, I can prove it."

"How?" Draco asked, his wariness and discomfort at maximum level but his curiousity also raised.

"I know you went to Borgin & Burkes the same day we were in Diagon Alley. And I know what you went in there for." Harry had been waiting since that day to be able to confide in Draco that he knew this, he was more than a little excited to finally be saying it.

"Even if you DID know what I was in there for, how does that prove you're not trying to trap me into something?"

"Because I haven't done anything about it." Harry said with a shrug and a bit of a smile. "In fact, I've stopped people doing something about it. Hermione and Ron, they were all about telling someone. They didn't want to accept that if you were up to something with the Vanishing Cabinet you probably had good reason."

Draco faltered. His eyes had gone wide as Harry said the words 'Vanishing Cabinet', making it clear he DID know what he'd been in Borgin & Burkes for. 

"You didn't tell anyone." Draco said, tilting his head in a bit. "Because you figured I had good reason to want it."

"Mm hmm." Harry said with a nod and a bit of a smile. "You wouldn't waste your time there with something like that without a good reason. That seems to make the most sense, and I don't see why we should interfere with that."

"You're sure you're feeling okay, Potter? Haven't eaten something funny? Didn't take a gift from someone you didn't know?"

Harry shook his head, finding it hard to understand why Draco was so wary of him. "Nothing like that."

"And you don't feel like being in your Common Room."

Harry shook his head again, wrinkling his nose a bit. "Not especially. I'm tired of the conversations there. Tired of the people." He raised his shoulders in a small shrug. "Hey, I was surprised you weren't at the Slug Club lunch on the train. You should have come, it would have been more fun."

"I... wasn't invited.." Draco said haltingly, finding that just when he thought this conversation couldn't get weirder, it went right off the tracks.

"Really? That doesn't seem right." Harry said, pushing himself to stand so he could walk towards the smaller blonde boy. "I don't know why Ginny or Neville would get invited and you wouldn't. I figured you just didn't want to go. Ron and Hermione said you weren't on Prefect Duty."

"Didn't want to be. Too much else to think about this year, I could care less about holding order with students." Draco couldn't help but smile just a tiny bit, finding this absolutely absurd conversation kind of interesting. "Did I miss much at Slughorn's lunch? Blaise didn't say much about it when he got back."

"He didn't say much at the lunch, either. Honestly it was just Slughorn appraising us. Trying to decide if we were anything he could 'collect'." Harry framed the last word in air quotes, making a face.

"Collect?" Draco leaned against the wall, tucking the parchment into his pocket. "What do you mean?"

Harry grinned as he waved his hand a bit. "He collects people he thinks will have connections for him later in life. I met him this summer, Slughorn, he didn't waste any time in telling me he could get Holyhead tickets whenever he wanted and the Editor of the Daily Prophet always wanted to hear his opinion on the news. Or that Honeyduke's send him a hamper every Christmas. He likes influential people, we were there being vetted for him to decide if he wanted to keep us or not."

"Maybe I don't want to be invited. That sounds unpleasant."

"It wasn't much fun. But might be more fun if you were there." Harry raised his eyebrows a bit at Draco, smiling at him.

That seemed to startle Draco back into the present and a normal frame of mind, which was that this was a STRANGE and nonsense conversation to be having with Harry fucking Potter.

"I need to go deliver McGonagall's message." Draco said abruptly, turning without another word to head up the stairs. He was thoroughly rattled and needed to think about all of this. 

Harry frowned for a second, watching Draco's retreating form. "Talk later, maybe?" He couldn't help calling hopefully after Draco, smiling when the blonde turned to look at him again.

"....Yeah. Maybe." Draco replied and carried on his way.

Harry leaned into the window frame to gather his things, thinking maybe he'd go to his Common Room now. Wouldn't be long until bedtime and at least he'd had a chance to talk to someone decent. It did bother him that Draco seemed so wary of him. He wasn't really sure why he would be... He hoped whatever the reason, he could talk him round, the year would be absolutely abysmal if he didn't have anyone decent to talk to.


	4. Draco ("Enchanted" Chapter 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Harry changed his allegiance? What if it was brought about accidentally? What if no one, not Harry, not his friends, not Borgin, not Voldemort, had any intention of it happening... But it did.  
What would happen when 'The Chosen One" decided he liked the idea of a Wizarding World, if not an entire world, under the power of Voldemort?
> 
> Chapter Summary - Told from Draco's POV- Draco can scarcely believe that Harry has changed so much so quickly. They're friends now, he can say that with almost certainty... He doesn't understand it, but he really is enjoying it...

DRACO'S POV

_ If you had to choose between Ron's Bargey Mother, or Ron's muggle Obsessed Father as the only person you could talk to for the rest of your life, who would you choose?_

Draco read the note, barking out a laugh that was far louder and ridiculous sounding than he meant to, but he couldn't help it. He was not expecting that when Harry dropped the note on the table next to his arm just a few moments earlier.

He turned his head, looking towards the back of the class where Harry sat with Ron and Hermione, as always. The dark haired boy was writing something, but after a moment he raised his head and saw Draco looking at him. He arched one eyebrow and raised his hands like he was silently asking Draco who he was choosing before he went back to writing.

With a smirk, Draco picked up his quill and smoothed the note from Harry out a bit so he could write his reply on the same parchment-

_ I'm assuming death is not an option in this scenario? Cruel that it isn't. But if I had to choose I suppose Ron's Bargey Mother. At least she can cook. _

Draco rolled the piece of parchment into a tight scroll, holding it for a few moments so that when he set it down it loosened but didn't unfurl completely, then poked it with his wand and muttered a few words, glancing over his shoulder at Harry as the scroll dropped to the floor and skidded across it, stopping when it hit Harry's foot. Once Harry leaned down to retrieve it Draco turned forward again.

And smiled smugly when he heard Harry laugh as well. Unfortunately as they were in class with Snape, that laugh cost Gryffindor 5 points. He hoped Harry thought it was worth it.

This had become more frequent. After the chance meeting and conversation they'd had on the stairs a few weeks ago, Draco started to notice that Harry was kind of everywhere he was. And not the same way he used to be. It _used_ to be that Harry would follow around behind him, spying on him. Turning up to watch him from a distance and glare at him.

Now he was turning up to talk to him. Joke with him. Even poke fun at his supposed friends. 

At first, Draco had been understandably weirded out by the whole thing. Who wouldn't have been in his position? And he had been very suspicious, wondering if this was a new angle Harry was taking to spy on him. But after awhile he had to admit that it really didn't seem to be. Harry was crafty and sly and a million other things that would make him a good actor to pretend he was being friendly when he wasn't, but he couldn't fake the little things.

Really little things. Like how he capitalized everything in what he said about Ron's parents, except the word 'muggle'. Even if Harry had been purposely trying to spy on him and get close to him by acting differently, there is no way he would have caught that small detail, no way it would have occurred to him to not capitalize that word with such intended and insulting purpose.

Which meant that for the past week since Draco had started to loosen up and start to talk to him without being suspicious, he'd been having the best time.

Harry sent notes, funny ones. In class or Owls after class when he was stuck in Gryffindor and Draco was in Slytherin. They joked and ranted and had spent one evening sending increasingly lewd and foul drawings back and forth by Owl. 

They talked between classes, meeting and walking to the ones they had together, with Crabbe, Goyle, Weasley and Granger all trailing behind (in two separate groups, though all four faces wore the same perplexed look of non-comprehension as they watched Harry and Draco talking ahead of them). 

Once Harry had sat at the Slytherin table for breakfast, and had just begun winning over the people around him when Snape unceremoniously ordered him back to Gryffindor. Which was a bummer, it had been fun having Harry sit next to him.

He didn't know what had happened to Harry. Didn't understand why suddenly Harry seemed to want nothing to do with his old friends or the old causes he seemed to stand for. Could not begin to explain it. But he liked it... Harry was proving to offer him some very much needed respite this year. And he really needed that.

"You can't choose death." Harry said to him after class as they sat on a window ledge in the hallway. Defence Against the Dark Arts had been their last class of the day, but they opted to sit not far from the door on a deep windowsill that was just big enough for the two of them, if they squished just a bit.

Draco didn't mind.

"Why not?" Draco asked, leaning forward to smirk as he looked into the other boy's face. "I'd much rather be dead, then Bargey and Muggle Lover could talk to each other for eternity and leave me out of it."

"The whole point of a question like that is to make you try and choose between two things you don't like. You HAVE to find the least offensive option between two equally shitty choices. Which you did, obviously. You'd have to put up with listening to her talk and shriek and bitch and moan, but you'd be awfully well fed."

"Lesser of all evils, I think." Draco smirked, shifting a bit on the ledge, his thigh and Harry's pressed together. "Have you finished that essay Snape wants for next class?"

Harry shook his head, making a face. "Not yet. Not that it matters. I could spend ten hours writing the essay to absolute perfection, but Snape would still give me the same grade as if I spent an hour just writing "chocolate frog" over and over again and handed it in."

"He really doesn't like you." Draco said, offering the other boy a sympathetic smile.

"Well he has reason, I guess, given my father was an asshole to him when they were in school. But I don't like him either so fair is fair." Harry turned his head and smiled back at Draco.

"Hm..." Draco tilted his head a bit, his eyes narrowing slightly in mischievous thought. "We could catch him out."

"Catch him out?" Harry asked, tilting his head the opposite way of Draco's and smiling at him.

Kind of adorable. Not that Draco was thinking about that. He was pointedly NOT thinking about that.

"You know." Draco said, shifting and trying to turn towards Harry, but failing since they were already crammed onto the ledge as it was. "Catch him being totally unfair to you. Get proof and then confront him with it. Threaten to go to Dumbledore or someone if he doesn't start actually grading you right."

"Oh that'll make him just LOVE me." Harry spoke with exaggerated bounce to his voice and it made Draco laugh.

"Arsehole. It's not about making him like you, it's about making sure he does things fairly."

"I thought you liked Snape." 

"I thought you liked Weasley and Granger." Draco spoke the words far more directly than anything else he'd said to Harry thus far about his shift in personality. They came out before he even thought about it. And they hung there in silence for long enough that his heart started to flutter in his chest just a little bit.

"You have a point..." Harry said slowly after a few moments, his tone so relaxed and easy that Draco couldn't help feeling not only relieved but also soothed by it. "So what do we do?"

"You write an absolutely shit essay." Draco said with a grin that was bordering on dark it was so pleased. "I'll write a really great one. Then we copy each other's work and I'll hand in the bad essay while you hand in the really good one. When you get a terrible grade for the good essay I wrote, and I get a great grade for the bad one you wrote, we have our proof."

"That. Is borderline genius." 

Harry spoke sort of quietly an in a voice that made Draco tingle with pride, looking to the dark haired boy with the sly smile. "I try my best."

"But I should help you with the good essay." Harry tapping one finger lightly against Draco's shoulder. "I shouldn't have the easy time writing the bad essay while you have to do painstakingly good work."

"I have it started, it won't be too bad." Draco said, but then hesitated, looking forward again, swinging his legs a little bit. "But if you want to help we can meet at the library or something."

Draco held his breath, he hated himself for being so hopeful and thinking so much of something so simple. But he couldn't help it. This strange, tentative-but-growing friendship he and Harry had started meant way too much to him. Logically he knew he should temper it and try not to pin so much on it. But he WANTED it. And Draco was decidedly terrible at denying himself anything he wanted.

"Perfect." Harry said after what seemed like ages, but had only been a few seconds. "I have Quidditch practice tonight, we could meet tomorrow?"

Draco nodded, smiling at the other boy. "Yeah that's good. Hey..." He leaned forward a bit so he could see Harry more clearly. "You don't expect me to go easy on you when Slytherin plays Gryffindor just because we're friends now, do you?"

"Nope."   
Harry said the one word then slid out of the window sill, turning a bit with a smug smile on his face. He rested both hands on Draco's knees, leaning in close to him to speak a little more quietly. "I plan to go easy on you.."

Draco laughed, smacking at the other boy as Harry straightened up to walk away, waving to him as he headed back to his Common Room. Draco stayed in the window ledge a little while longer, waiting for his stomach to stop squirming happily at the way Harry had leaned into him.

As he sat there the fingers of his left hand twitched, and he felt the squirm of the skin on the inside of his left forearm. He looked to make sure the hall was empty the he shoved his hand under the sleeve of his robe and rubbed at his arm, his stomach squirming for a whole other reason.

He knew part of why he was so instantly needy of a friendship like he and Harry had started was just distraction. When he laughed with the other boy he couldn't feel the lines on his arm twist and curl.

He forgot the things he had to do this year for a little while when they passed notes in class.

Sending owls back and forth in the evenings kept him from uncomfortable discussions with his fellow Slytherins.

He needed this. Badly.


	5. Enchanted (Chapter 5)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's taking every effort both Harry and Draco have not to get kicked right out of the library as they work. Who would have thought they'd have so much fun together? But when secrets are revealed and an offer of help comes from a very odd source, will they manage to keep having fun?
> 
> \--------------------------------

Harry was having the time of his life. 

Aside from the very brief period between Hagrid telling him he was a Wizard and him finding out just who 'Harry Potter' was to the Wizarding World, this was the most free, most unencumbered and most happy he had ever ever been.

"We're going to get kicked out!" Draco said in a hissing whisper. He raised one hand to wipe a tear off his cheek from laughing so hard at what they were doing.

Harry wasn't faring any better, having to press both hands over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

What they were doing was sitting in the back of the library writing the 'bad essay' that would be handed in to Snape by Draco. They had finished the good essay for Harry quite quickly and as neither of them made any moves towards wanting to leave, they decided to write the bad one together as well.

"No no, change that.." Harry whispered once they had both swallowed their laughter and were once again working. He leaned over the parchment, pressing shoulder to shoulder with the blonde boy. "Saying onyx has the same density as the grease in his hair I think would even get you into trouble. Or at least make him think something fishy was going on."

"How about... 'onyx as the same density as Longbottom and therefore never more than a few powdered granules should be used at once in a Fast-Night Cloaking spell?"

Harry immediately and swiftly bent over in silent hysterics, shaking his head, and plunging his hands into his hair, gripping it tightly as he laughed so hard he couldn't breathe, not daring to let it make a sound. Hearing Draco gasping in almost but not quite silent laughter next to him didn't help.

"It works... on two levels.." Harry sputtered through gasps for air and laughter.

"I know!!" Draco whispered back to him, putting his head down on the table as they both worked to get ahold of themselves. 

Madam Pince had already been by their table three times, lingering with sharp, probing looks at them for daring to be having fun in her silent library. Harry figured the next time would be the last and he wasn't ready to leave just yet.

Slowly they regained composure, working on the essay with only a few stifled laughs, carefully measuring out the information and providing enough real facts to make it look like Draco had been serious writing the essay, but peppering it with inaccuracies and total rudeness. When they finally got to the end of it, they shifted closer, each taking a side of the parchment to draw doodles all over while they talked.

"How was practice yesterday?" Draco asked him, his quill scratching out a rather good little caricature of Snape himself.

"Same old." Harry said, stopping what he was doing so he could watch Draco draw, smiling a bit to himself. Through the series of drawings they'd sent back and forth to each other for a night he'd managed to figure out that Draco was pretty talented when it came to art. "Everyone is suitable for their positions. 'Cept Ron, really. I mean he's fine until we're actually in a game and then he might as well just tend goal with his back to the rest of the playing field."

"Why did you put him on the team then?" Draco added a few tiny little flies around the Snape drawing, smiling a bit to himself with obvious satisfaction.

Harry kind of liked that look.

"Because the only other choice was McLaggen. And I liked telling him Ron won the spot more than I think I'd like winning the Cup itself."

Anything Draco was about to say in response never came when he, instead, let out an involuntary hiss of pain, dropping his quill and clutching his right hand to his left forearm. Harry stayed silent, his interest pricking but not wanting to say anything. He'd seen how protective Draco was about his left arm. Seen how carefully he kept the sleeve pulled so far down it almost covered his hand. He'd seen him absently rubbing at it, but never like this. 

"Muscle pain." Draco said after a few moments, realizing Harry was watching him, realizing clearly how obvious he'd been.

"Uh huh." Harry said, keeping his eyes on the other boy for a few moments in silence before he spoke again. "Can I see it?"

"May arm?" Draco arched one eyebrow, trying to look like he didn't know why Harry would want to see his arm. "It's an arm..."

"You know what I mean." Harry said, leaning forward a bit so he could whisper to the other boy, his words so low they barely made a sound. "I know, Draco, I guessed when I saw you in Borgin and Burkes. I've seen you favour your arm since the start of school. I'm not going to run off and tell anyone, I would have done it already if I intended to."

When Draco didn't respond and didn't move, Harry reached over for the other boy's arm. Draco let him pull it forward but didn't watch him do it. Harry felt him stiffen as he started to inch his sleeve up, he looked around to make sure no one was watching and Draco's arm was hidden by the table before he moved the sleeve right up his arm and looked down.

He didn't say anything, but he smiled when he saw the thin lines there. The skull, the twisting snake that moved a bit of it's own accord. He moved one finger out, gently tracing along the snake, watching as it seemed to recoil from his finger.

_Easy now...._ Harry hissed out softly in parseltongue, smiling almost lovingly at the snake that immediately relaxed, seeming to ripple against Draco's forearm and move it's head towards Harry's finger then instead of away from it.

"You can speak to it." Draco breathed out the words, looking from the mark up to Harry's face in absolute shock. "I forgot that you can speak parseltongue.."

"I didn't think to do it, it just came out. That's generally what happens... logically I wouldn't have thought it would respond, but the parseltongue just.." Harry mimed a hand from his mouth outwards. "It comes when it does."

"That's amazing." Draco smiled a bit, looking back down and watching as the snake in his mark shifted and twisted as though wanting right off his skin to curl around Harry's finger that was still stroking against it. "It drives me nuts. It's always moving and twitching and sometimes it really hurts."

"It's a link to Voldemort." Harry said, stroking his finger against the snake's head, then pulling Draco's sleeve back down, not wanting to leave it on display like that for too long. "I suppose it might be a little like my scar. It doesn't hurt anymore but only because Voldemort found out how it works. It's too bad..."

"You could tell what he was doing, right?" Draco asked, rubbing his hand over his arm again once the fabric covered it. "I heard him screaming about it, angry that no one had figured that out before."

"What he was doing, often what he was feeling. A couple of times I was in Nagini and seeing through her eyes as she moved around. I was her when she attacked Ron's father."

"You weren't directing her though?" Draco asked, leaning in a little more.

"No I wasn't, I was just watching. I don't get it at all now, it's too bad."

"I would have thought you'd be glad not to know."

Harry smiled a bit and shrugged his shoulders, something about his eyes a little darker than normal. "I feel oddly disconnected like this. I wish I could be more involved again."

Harry sat back in his chair, sighing out a low breath as he looked at Draco, his eyes trailing over his pale face and sharp features. "Borgin never told me what it was you wanted the Vanishing Cabinet for. I want to know, obviously... Maybe I could help you. But I'm not going to ask outright. I'm just going to say this right now, that I want to know and want to help. You can decide if you want to tell me or not."

It was a gamble and Harry knew it. They'd been dancing around these subjects, both of them saying things that slightly leaned towards them, but never coming right out and being direct. But having seen the Dark Mark on Draco's arm, Harry had no doubt now that whatever Draco was doing was something Voldemort had asked him to do. And right then he couldn't think of anything he wanted more than to help Draco with whatever it was.

But he could also tell from the look on Draco's face that he wasn't ready to tell him. The blonde looked absolutely stricken. Both, it seemed, with the forwardness of what Harry said and with the offer of help.

Harry pushed his glasses up, then reached out to touch Draco's cheek, then moved his hand down to clasp around his left forearm, squeezing it firmly but not really hard. 

"Whenever you're ready." He said, looking straight into Draco's pale eyes. "I'm with you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco get one over on Snape, while also leaving McGonagall almost speechless!  
But it's the night time conversation in the hallway, and a trip to the Room of Requirement that truly starts to peel back more layers, making this new friendship deeper. Creating trust between them both that could well and truly start to turn the tides of the impending War...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeey! I'm back! Working on updating some (but not all) of my current fics and maybe tossing something new in here and there as well. I'm going to try not to have another 7.5 month absence this time. Thanks for sticking around if you've been here before! And thanks for coming by if you're brand new!
> 
> \--------------------------

“Clearly... there was... a mistake.”

Snape spoke the few words in absolute deadpan, not looking at McGonagall as he spoke, even though the words were directed to her.

It didn't matter because McGonagall wasn't looking at Snape either. Both of them were turned to face the two boys in front of them. The two most unlikely boys in the whole of Hogwarts to be showing any sort of united front. 

And both Snape and McGonagall would agree that it was more than a little unsettling.

“Mistakes happen.” McGonagall said, her voice ever so slightly uncertain as she looked from Draco's face to Harry's and back again, trying to make sense of this.

“It's alright, Professor Snape.” Harry said, nudging Draco lightly with his elbow. 

“Yes, mistakes _do_ happen.” Draco said, trying to keep his lips from twitching.

They were standing in McGonagall's office, facing down Snape for the absolutely abysmal marks he'd given Harry for the impeccable essay they had written, while Draco's doodle covered mass of nonsense had earned top marks. 

The shock on McGonagall's face when they turned up together to talk to her seriously would have been worth anything. But the stony disbelief and uncomfortable behaviour of Snape was the icing on the cake.

“You will regrade both essays.” McGonagall said, handing both to Snape while keeping her eyes on Harry and Draco. “And you two... may go...”

She sounded reluctant to let them leave without a heavy dose of questioning, but she waved them away all the same. They were almost out the door before Snape spoke again-

“Detention, Mr Malfoy. Your essay well deserves it.”

Draco laughed. He couldn't help himself, and when he laughed Harry did, too. And they laughed up the hall without looking back, half leaning on each other for support by the time they'd gotten far enough away they could stop moving.

“Oh that was _amazing_.” Draco said, wiping his eyes and using one hand to push off from Harry, moving to one of the deep hallway windowsills to hop up on. 

Harry followed without thinking twice, squeezing in next to him and shaking his head, still chuckling. “I've never seen two people more shocked. It was amazing... But it isn't fair you're getting detention when we both wrote that essay.”

“We can't tell them that, though. They'll know we did it on purpose to catch Snape out and I don't think 'entrapment of a professor' would go over so well. It'll be one night and he won't make me do anything terrible.”

“Still..” Harry said, tilting his head a bit as he looked at the boy next to him. 

“You saying it isn't fair and acknowledging that we should both get detention counts.” Draco smiled at Harry, swinging his legs a little bit to bounce his heels against the wall. 

They fell silent, but a comfortable sort of silent that was easy and companionable. 

“I sit out in the castle at night a lot.” Draco said eventually, looking at the floor and the wide squares of moonlight that fell across it at regular intervals up the hall.

“I know.” Harry said, then smiled when Draco looked at him in surprise, answering the unasked question. “I have easy spy methods.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Draco furrowed his brow, leaning a bit closer to the other boy.

“In third year Fred and George Weasley gave me a magical map of Hogwarts. It shows the castle and the grounds and every person in it has a tiny labelled dot that moves as they move. So just by looking at it I could find anyone and know where they are.”

“_Wherever_ they are? Anywhere in the castle?” Draco spoke quickly, not realizing that there was a blatant note of panic in his voice as he looked at Harry.

“Unless they're in the Room of Requirement.”

Harry looked at Draco, meeting his grey eyes that were silver in the moonlight, quiet for a few moments before he leaned in enough to nudge his shoulder against Draco's. “Breathe.” He said, smiling slightly when the taller boy took in a deep breath.

“You've been watching me... You know...”

“I know you go into the Room of Requirement. I can guess it has to do with the vanishing cabinet at Borgin and Burkes but I don't know anything else.” Harry said, leaning forward just a bit more to look at Draco seriously. “And I'm not asking you to tell me. I'm just telling you I know, and also I thought I'd offer you the map to use so you wouldn't have to get your two oafs to stand outside the door while you're inside.”

Harry shifted then, pulling the folded map from his back pocket to hold out to Draco, then frowned when the other boy didn't even look at it. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, Harry.. Of course not..” Draco looked down then, at the map in Harry's hand, then at the floor again, then back up to the other boy's face. He stayed silent thinking... considering... Then shifted, sliding back out of the windowsill. “Come with me.”

He didn't wait for Harry, he just turned and started walking up the hall.

Harry didn't hesitate before jumping down to follow Draco, trying to match his almost silent footsteps on the stone floor.

They went up a flight of stairs and then down a hall before Harry knew where they were going, so he wasn't surprised when he had to trail Draco up and down the stretch of hall three times before he stopped in front of a door that looked remarkably out of place. Harry followed him inside once Draco had the door open and took in a breath as he looked around. 

This was the Room of Requirement in a way he'd never seen it before. It was massive, toweringly tall, like a cathedral, it's walls reaching and arching skyward almost dizzyingly. But even more impressive was just how much STUFF was in it. Crammed to the gills, it held the most vast and incredible assortment of junk and treasures he'd ever seen.

“Whoa...” He turned on the spot to look around him, only stopping when he realized Draco had stopped as well and was fidgeting worriedly next to him. “Sorry.. It's just never ever looked like this for me. Why is this what you need from it?”

“I don't think that it's doing this exactly for me.” Draco said, moving along a path that wound through the piles of junk precariously. “I think this is what it is when someone desperately needs a place to hide something. Maybe it started out as small as a closet but had to grow to accommodate the centuries of things students have needed to hide.”

“That makes sense...” Harry said, still looking around a fair bit. “For Hogwarts, anyways, it makes perfect sense by Hogwarts standards.”

Draco stayed silent then as he walked to his destination and stopped, gesturing slightly to the vanishing cabinet that stood hulking in the midst of a toppled over pile of books.

“You brought it here?” Harry said, mistaking it for the one that was at Borgin and Burkes. Then frowned when Draco shook his head.

“They're a matching set.” Draco said, shifting a few things that had fallen in front of it since the last time he was there. “The one in the shop is still there and this is it's mate here But it's broken.”

Harry nodded slowly, putting together the pieces of the conversation he'd heard between Draco and Borgin. “Right, you were asking him how to fix it. Did he?”

Draco made a face, dusting his hands off. “No. He's trying to. I'm trying to as well but I don't know what I'm doing and I don't think he really does either.

“But what....”

Harry spoke the two words then trailed off, pressing his lips together and shaking his head, waving a hand slightly as well. “Never mind. I'm not asking.”

“I might need it for a really fast get away from the Castle.” Draco said, with no hesitation what so ever. 

Any lingering doubt he'd had about Harry was dissolving like sugar in water that evening. Realizing the more he showed and told the other boy, the more he found out Harry already knew, and had never said a word about, never shared with anyone, never so much as hedged at with him until it was there in front of them both. It was clear that even if Draco didn't understand the about face Harry had made this year, it was in earnest. It was real. And he could trust him.

“This would do it.” Harry said, running a hand over the side of the Cabinet, still not quizzing Draco any further about it. “But if it's broken I can understand not wanting to even give it a shot... If you got stuck, then what...”

“Exactly.” Draco said with a nod, moving over to sit down on a a dusty fainting couch that was pock marked with spell burns. “I'm starting to think I'll have to find some other way.”

Harry moved as well, sitting down next to Draco and coughing at the cloud of dust he'd sent whirling into the air. “There aren't a lot of ways to get out of Hogwarts fast. Not like this.. You can't apparate, you can't use the Floo Network, and even if you could it's monitored, I think.”

“Brooms would be too slow, you could be followed.” Draco added, sighing as he leaned back on his hands and looked at the cabinet. 

“Maybe I could help you.” Harry said after a lengthy pause. Shifting a bit before he spoke again before finally asking Draco a direct question. “What is it you have to make a quick get away from?”

Draco raked his teeth over his lower lip as he looked at the other boy, meeting the level green gaze and sighing after a few moments, well and truly giving over to the desire to share it all with him. “Voldemort set me a task to do this year.” He started, looking at Harry for a few moments, then turning his head to glance around the room. “It's big... it's... awful.”

Harry stayed quiet, watching Draco carefully. He didn't want to pry too much, but he wanted to make sure Draco knew he was interested and invested in this. “How awful?”

“I have to kill someone.” Draco looked back at Harry as he spoke, watching and gauging his reaction in minute detail.

Harry, however, didn't even flinch. He reached over and put a hand over Draco's on the couch, letting out a soft breath. “That's a pretty nasty thing to make you do. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given it's... Well it's Voldemort.”

“It is Voldemort.” Draco said, sighing out a long deep breath. He waited, sure this time that Harry would ask him more, and he was right. After a few minutes of silence the dark haired boy spoke again.

“Who is it? That you have to kill.”

“Dumbledore.” Draco spoke the one word answer, then turned his head quickly as this time Harry faltered and shifted at his response. He couldn't help but wonder if now he had gone too far. If this would be the line drawn between them and this new friendship. If this was the one thing Harry wouldn't be able to accept...

“Merlin. Voldemort isn't playing around, is he. He knows _he_ can't kill Dumbledore, but what is he playing at making YOU do it? That's just cruel....”

Draco raised his head to look at Harry, taking in his response for just a few moments, absorbing it, parsing it for any underlying issue, then shifted to throw his arms around Harry's shoulders.

Harry couldn't help but laugh, even given the heavy weight of the conversation, he laughed as Draco hugged him, then he hugged the blonde boy back after a moment. “What's this for?”

“You aren't mad.”

“Why would I be mad? Voldemort didn't set you to kill ME. And even if he did, it's him asking for it, not you.”

“But..” Draco pulled back a bit, just enough that he could see Harry properly. “It's _Dumbledore_.”

“Draco, do you WANT to kill Dumbledore?”

Draco shook his head, unconsciously squeezing his arms around Harry's shoulders a bit.

“That's kinda what matters. It's a shit thing for Voldemort to get you to do, but it's him that wants you to do it, not you.” Harry smiled a bit, shifting slightly so that Draco was closer in against him, their arms still loosely wrapped around each other. “So what do you want to do?”

“What do you mean?” Draco asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Well there's two options the way I see it.” Harry said, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Either we find a way to get you out of having to kill him...” he paused, his fingers moving to pass through the strands of hair that covered the back of Draco's neck. He leaned in just a little closer to speak more quietly, one side of his mouth quirking up very slightly. 

“...Or we find a way for you to kill him and get away with it...”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has lost something important... Something that might actually HELP Draco with the horrible task he's been set.  
But then he remembers something else. Something even better and far more likely to be of sure use.  
A covert trip to the Slytherin Dungeons to find Draco and persuade him to take the helpful item turns into a deep conversation. A discussion of changing alignment. And the return of a proposition made many years ago...
> 
> \------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry had lost the ring.

He thought...

Maybe?

He could swear he still felt it's presence on his finger but it wasn't there. He couldn't see it and couldn't feel it with his fingers. And yet the comforting solid sort of energy that had come with it `was still present.

This was upsetting, though. After he and Draco had parted a few nights back, after he'd been told what it was the other boy had been tasked with, he realized that if Borgin had been telling the truth, he HAD what it was Draco needed.

But it seemed that he didn't now... 

"You're sure it's gone?" Ron asked, looking up from where he had couch cushions on the floor of the Gryffindor common room, looking under them to see if Harry had lost the ring in the depths of the furniture.

Harry made an exasperated noise and gave Ron a withering look. "It's not on my finger, is it? Can you see it?" He held up his hand, wiggling his fingers a bit. "If it's not there then it's gone."

Ron frowned, turning back towards the couch as Harry's nasty tone sort of put him off wanting to help at all.

Hermione had gotten the same treatment, but had taken it even harder than Ron had, retreating tearfully to the girls dorm without another word after asking Harry how he could have not known it was missing before now. Harry's reply had been two steps beyond unkind.

Harry, feeling annoyed in general, abandoned the quest, not even telling Ron that he was. He couldn't be bothered, really, and it wasn't like Ron was truly any help anyways. He'd searched the same furniture and same floor over and over again like he expected something to change.

He headed up to their dorm and set to trying to clean up the mess he'd made with the contents of his trunk after he'd torn it all apart looking for the ring.

Robes, quills, rolls of parchment. A few bottles of ink and countless pairs of socks got tossed haphazardly back into his trunk.

Socks...

Harry took in a sharp breath, once again rifling through the contents of his trunk, scouring around in the depths of it before he came up with the pair of socks he was thinking of. Then he sat down on his bed, looking at the socks, and grinning.

\-------------------------------------

"How do you even know where the Slytherin Common room is?" Draco hissed at him as they walked quickly up the dark hallway away from the entrance to Slytherin, and the small crowd of people spilling out of it to curiously watch them walk up the dark hall together.

It was a few hours after Harry had unearthed the socks. He'd waited until everyone was asleep in his dorm and chanced that the Slytherins stayed up later before making his way quickly and quietly down to the dungeons.

"Erm... You let me in once. Me and Ron." Harry turned his head a bit to look up at Draco, quirking one side of his mouth into a sheepish smile. "We looked like Crabbe and Goyle, though. You aren't the only student who's messed around with Polyjuice."

Draco laughed then, which Harry was grateful for since he could have been angry and he would have had every right to BE angry.

"Oh Merlin, Potter. You get away with the most ridiculous bullshit around here. Do you know what a charmed life you lead?"

"Oh totally charmed. Hunted and wanted dead by everyone in your family, all the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself." Harry smirked, then nudged Draco with his elbow. "But yeah, I do know."

"So what did you want?"

Harry stopped, figuring they were far enough away now that no one could see or hear them. He smiled as he held up the pair of socks he was holding.

"Socks..." Draco said, his head tilting and his nose crinkling up a bit. "Rather ugly socks at that..."

"I know, right? They were my Uncle's. He has no taste in clothing..."

"And you risked walking through the castle at night to share that with me?"

Harry laughed, shaking his head. "No no... Sorry. Alright so.. I have a bit of a confession..." He raked his teeth over his lower lip, holding the balled socks in both hands. "When I went into Borgin's after you left to find out what it is you wanted from there, Borgin sold me something. Something he claimed was what you REALLY should have been asking about to help you. It was a ring and I took it and I wore it all summer... But somewhere along the way I lost it. I didn't even realize it was gone until after we... had our last conversation." Harry raised both eyebrows rather meaningfully as he spoke just in case Draco had somehow forgotten what their last conversation was.

"I doubt whatever it was.. was real.." Draco said slowly, half trying to convince himself of that after his hopes had raised and then fallen with Harry's story.

"I know there's a good chance it wasn't. I wore it all summer and it did nothing. I managed to wear it into the castle past Filch's searching and probing and whatever, so it didn't register as dark magic. But still... if it HAD been.. I was looking for it tonight, and then I remembered..." He raised his hands again, grinning once more.

"Socks. Right..." Draco said, looking at the other boy strangely. 

"No. Not socks. What's IN the socks." He unfolded the socks and produced a tiny bottle. A very tiny bottle full of scintillatingly gold liquid. 

Draco took in a sharp breath, taking a couple of steps towards Harry, closing the distance between them as he looked at the bottle in his fingers. "Liquid luck..."

"Exactly." Harry said, grinning even more as he held it forward on his palm for Draco to look at more closely.

"I thought you used it. Word got around you'd dumped it into Weasley's pumpkin juice."

"Merlin no. I pretended to so he wouldn't be such a cock up in the match, but I'd never waste it on that." 

Harry held his hand out further, wiggling it a bit in invitation for Draco to take it. "It's yours."

"I can't take that." Draco took a half step back even while everything in him screamed at him to grab the bottle.

"Sure you can. I didn't even get it through truly honest means."

"Even if you had instructions in your potions book, you still followed them correctly and made the best potion. It's yours, you should keep it. You'll need it."

"For what?" Harry asked, still smiling as he leaned against the wall, watching Draco carefully. He'd known that the other boy wouldn't want to take it. He'd known he was going to have to persuade him.

"For... I don't know. All the people that want you dead?"

"Yeah but I don't know when they're coming for me. I can't be in the middle of being attacked and be like 'oh sorry, could you wait a minute while I go dig out an ugly pair of socks and take some potion?' Having 12 hours of good luck at some random time isn't going to help me. YOU, though. You have a ticking clock over your head. You need this."

Draco fell silent, thinking hard. He wanted to deny what Harry said, he wanted to argue with him more. But unfortunately the other boy was kind of right. And a teeny tiny little sliver of hope that had started building deep in him grew just a little more. 

If Harry helped him. If Harry was actively trying to help him complete this task. To kill Dumbledore, the only Wizard Voldemort knew he couldn't best.... Would Harry still have to die? Would Voldemort still want him gone?

Draco smiled a bit, then stepped forward closer to where Harry was standing against the wall. The dark haired boy held his hand out again with the bottle and this time Draco picked it up.

"Thank you..."

"You're welcome." Harry pushed off the wall, smiling as he moved closer to Draco, looking the small ways up to his face. "It's still going to take some planning and some work but..."

"But we could make sure it goes off without a hitch with this." Draco closed his fingers around the small bottle that was still warm from Harry's hand. "Are you really sure you want to be helping me with this?" He asked, not looking up to Harry's face as he tucked the bottle safely into his deepest pocket.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

Harry furrowed his brow as he looked at Draco, catching on after a few moments of silence what all the unasked questions really were. "I don't know what's happened this year." He admitted, shifting to rest his back against the wall again. "All the things that I thought were SO important and so meaningful... It's like I see them for what they really are. What the people really are, what they're fighting against by opposing Voldemort. And Dumbledore.." Harry raised his eyes to Draco's face, snorting a bit. "All he ever does is say 'Now I'll tell you everything..' and then proceeds to tell me half of things. And never in a straight forward manner, either." Harry huffed, scuffing his foot against the floor angrily. "Always in riddles, always in round about fashion."

"I thought you knew everything. I thought you of all people would be told EVERYthing.." Draco said, moving to lean against the wall next to Harry.

"Nope." Harry shook his head, looking away from Draco as anger etched in lines over his face. "Mr and Mrs Weasley keep trying to shield me from everything. Like THAT will help me? Please... Sirius used to tell me things a little straighter, but he was super biased and didn't have a ton of information since he'd been in Azkaban for so long. And Dumbledore. He _swore_ to me he would tell me everything and I thought he did. But then this year he's started calling me for one on one meetings and stuff. And he starts giving me all kinds of new information. He says that he told me everything he KNEW and that now we're looking at and gathering information from other sources where we don't know for SURE. Like that makes such a huge difference..."

Draco frowned, processing all this new information about both Harry and Dumbledore. He'd spent most of his time sure Harry was always being kept in the loop. Anything from concrete fact to rumours 'just in case' so he could always be alert and be prepared. To know he wasn't....

"That's utter bullshit and completely fucked up." Draco said, not even bothering to try and think of a more polite way to say it. "How on earth do they expect you to fight with them, to trust them, to align with their cause if they don't even do you the courtesy of keeping you prepared."

"Right??" Harry turned to look at Draco, an almost relieved looking smile curling onto his lips. Draco understood. Draco ACTUALLY understood. He wasn't all cautious and constantly worried and thinking he couldn't handle it. He got it. He understood. "They want me to be on their side and to fight for them and to win this whole impending war for them, but they won't tell me things. Won't teach me things. I complain about Dumbledore and how he's never telling me all of everything and people just say 'Oh that's just Dumbledore. Oh I'm sure he has his reasons.' Nuts to that."

Draco shook his head, exhaling a breath sharply. "To think you've come this far with them as it is. You're loyal, I'll give you that."

"Stupid, I think." Harry said, smiling at Draco in a far more relaxed way. "But it all came around in my head this summer... I just realized that none of these people... None of them. Have given me much reason to fight for them."

Draco shifted a bit as a wiggle of something hopeful and promising curled in his belly. Even more strongly than that tiny little sliver deep inside of him, this one felt like they were turning a corner. Like they were opening a door to changing things entirely...

Draco shifted, moving in front of Harry as he fixed the icy, smirky, ego driven facade of his First Year self onto his face. "You'll soon find out some Wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort."

Draco tilted his head a bit, holding his hand out to Harry. "I can help you there."

This time Harry took his hand.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Harry meeting in the Room of Requirement to discuss how to try and continue appearing like everything was normal over Christmas break.  
Harry, in turn, invites Draco to Slughorn's Christmas Party, which certainly is NOT acting like everything is normal... But how could Draco say no?  
It's the last time they'll see each other before break.... They might as well make the most of it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \-----------------------------------------
> 
> Hi all!
> 
> Thanks so much for all the comments on the last chapter! I'm sorry I'm not answering everyone individually. I'm a shy dork... this is easier.
> 
> Just a little bit about the 'ring' that I want to say because I don't know if it will get explained in detail at any point-
> 
> There's a hint about what was happening with the ring in an earlier chapter. That's all I'll say about it's whereabouts. ;)  
I will confirm that it IS a magical object. Borgin's explanation of it had nothing to do with Harry's reaction to it. Borgin himself doesn't think that the ring is anything much but metal because all it did was make him question what he wanted for lunch every day.  
But unluckily for Borgin, he doesn't know that he's become a little sensitive to dairy in his later years, and the ring was making him think about whether or not he should continue eating the cheese he always has with lunch every day.  
Poor Borgin...  
The ring acts on thoughts already in your head, it's not at all dark magic, but sometimes something that makes us open up to ALL our thoughts, especially the deep down ones, can be a little bit of a gamble about where they might lead. ;) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! See you soon!
> 
> \------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You have to at least PRETEND like everything is normal." Draco said, then laughed as Harry tilted his head back and lolled listlessly against the couch they were sitting on in the Room of Requirement. "Drama queen."

"Oh YOU'RE one to talk about behaving normally." Harry said, pushing himself to sit upright again, waving a finger accusingly at Draco.

"I'm acting perfectly normal!"

"You are not."

"How am I acting abnormal?"

"Oh I dunno." Harry said, shifting to get to his feet and walking back over to the Vanishing Cabinet to look at it again. "Not being a Prefect? Telling everyone you aren't coming back next year?"

Draco looked down, pressing his lips together to try and squelch the smile that was forcing his mouth to curve up. "I suppose that's true."

"Mm. It is. And you don't have to hang around with people you absolutely can't stand anymore. You don't have to go home with Ron for Christmas." Harry flopped down on the couch again with a frustrated noise, sending a cloud of dust up sparkling into the light.

"You're still going?" Draco asked, turning towards Harry a bit. "I suppose you have to if we're committing to try and act like everything is as normal as possible."

"I'm still going. And I'm going to have to act a lot more friendly if I expect to get away with seeming like nothing has changed."

"But Bargey and Muggle Lover will certainly try your patience."

"Not to mention the rest of the Weasley clan, probably Lupin and Tonks and Kingsley and the rest of the Order." Harry dramatically counted off all the people he spoke about on his fingers like he was nearing a hundred, not a dozen.

Draco sighed, leaning his side against the couch, turned towards Harry. "I wish you could come home with me."

"I wish I could, too." Harry said, scrunching his mouth to the side. "But I don't expect that would go over too well with anyone. Including the people at your house."

Draco shook his head in a wide and slow back and forth motions, indicating just HOW poorly it would be received. "I want to try and feel things out a bit, try and figure out how I can get the message across that you're helping us and what that would mean for you. But I don't want to call too much attention to it too quickly..."

"We don't want anyone on Dumbledore's side to find out now... But you need to be able to get attention and maybe offer something that would be proof." Harry frowned, thinking for a few moments before he shifted closer to Draco, lowering his voice even though they were utterly alone in this canyon of a room. "There might be a few things... The meetings I've been having with Dumbledore. He's been showing me memories of people that have had dealings with Voldemort's relatives. And with Voldemort when he was still Tom Riddle."

Draco felt his eyes widen at what Harry was telling him, nodding his head a bit and motioning with one hand a bit to get Harry to come even closer. "Go on..."

"Some of it wouldn't matter much or be proof to Voldemort. But if you can remember a few things to tell him... if you have SAFE opportunity to tell him.." Harry leaned his head in a bit, taking the end of Draco's school tie and giving it a small tug for emphasis. "Tell him that Dumbledore showed me the Gaunt house. That I know his mother wore Salazar Slytherin's locket. That the ring with the black stone, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on it, was once on Marvolo's hand, but now it's sitting in Dumbledore's office." Harry paused for a moment, letting out a soft breath before continuing even more quietly. "And tell him that in a box in his wardrobe he had a harmonica, a silver thimble, and a red yo-yo."

Draco was barely breathing as Harry spoke. Something about the words, the information and the way he was talking about it raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Not much of it made any sense to him at all, but he suspected that THAT was what would make it so meaningful to Voldemort himself. He nodded as Harry finished, smiling just a bit. "I'll tell him..." He made a slight choking noise, laughing as Harry pulled his tie again. "If it's safe to do so! I swear I'll only tell him if it's safe to do it..."

"Good." Harry said, smiling and sitting up again. He leaned back against the couch with a deep breath, seeming to relax a lot more than he had been before, turning to look almost lazily at Draco. "Come to Slughorn's Christmas party with me."

"Are you CRAZY?" Draco asked with a surprised laugh. "That's not exactly keeping things normal and not suspicious..."

"Oh who cares..." Harry said, grinning at Draco and tugging his tie a little harder. "It's one night. It'll be so crowded people won't know who's there with who and who's talking to who."

"Granger will know." Draco said in argument, already hoping Harry would argue back.

"Yeah well.. She's not talking to me right now. I got too harsh with her over something stupid and she's been in a snit about it since then. If she notices she's not going to say anything to me. Which means I can't incriminate either of us directly."

Draco stayed silent for a few moments, pretending like he was considering before he nodded, smiling at the dark haired boy. "Fine. Is it formal?"

"Yes. But PLEASE tell me you have different robes than the vicar looking ones you wore to the Winter Ball in year four..."

"Oh god don't remind me..." Draco laughed, his cheeks colouring deeply. "That was not my choice."

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that." 

Harry grinned as he spoke, and the wiggle that Draco got in his belly from it was totally different than the one that was about Harry being on their side of the war.

\----------------------------------

"Is that a vampire??" Draco hissed, crowding behind Harry like he was trying to hide behind him, despite being taller than the dark haired boy.

"I think so.." Harry said, looking over at Sanguini (having overheard an introduction so knowing his name), a guest of a guest at the party. "I've never seen one before I don't know for sure, but the name kind of gives him away."

Draco snorted a soft laugh that he tried to squelch when the suspected vampire turned his shadowed eyes to him. "Oh god he knows I'm laughing at him, let's go somewhere else...."

Harry laughed, taking Draco's arm and leading him across the crowded room. "Okay rule number one? Don't laugh at vampires when they're in earshot."

"Someone should have taught me that much sooner." Draco said, still chuckling a bit. "Maybe rule number one should be 'don't make jokes about vampires to your party guest who will then laugh at said vampire'."

That made Harry laugh again and Draco smirked a little more, inside and out. He did like making him smile and laugh. It was always a little triumph when he did.

"Fair enough. I'll stop making jokes at the expense of potentially violent guests when it might get you into trouble." Harry turned his head, then squeezed Draco's arm as he leaned in close enough to whisper to him. "What about particularly greasy guests?"

Draco turned, scanning the people nearby to see who Harry might be talking about. His eyes landed on Snape standing not too far away who was looking squarely at him in a rather dark and angry way. "Oh Merlin. Those jokes you can make all you like, but I better go see what on earth he wants."

Harry made an annoyed noise that Draco knew had to do with Snape interrupting, not with him being a dutiful student. He broke away from Harry's grasp and threaded his way over to Snape who glowered further the closer he got. "What is it, Professor?"

Snape jerked his head towards the door, then turned on his heel to stalk towards it without another word. With a sigh of exasperation, Draco followed. He didn't know if this would be about being there with Harry, or about the task Voldemort had set him. But either topic wasn't one Draco felt like getting into.

But he followed, going up the hall a ways behind Snape, slowing his steps as the older man did before stopping a few feet away from him. "What is it?" He dropped the pretence of being polite, not caring one bit if he was rude to Snape now that others couldn't see them. Having Harry as an ally, working with him, having him as a confidante and friend had instilled some of Draco's swagger back into him. Some of his confidence and his ego had been well repaired and he didn't give two figs what it was Snape wanted.

"Are you enjoying yourself playing around with Potter?" Snape said, his voice sharp and cutting. He closed the distance Draco had left open rather quickly so he could lower his voice into a hiss. "You seem to forget who he is and what he means to this world."

"I haven't forgotten anything." Draco said, raising his eyebrows a bit. He really wanted to step back, being this close to Snape was never pleasant, but doing so would have looked like weakness. "You don't know what's going on. You have no idea, stop pretending like you do."

"I know exactly.. what is going on..." Snape said, tilting his head to look down his hawkish nose at the younger boy. "I know what it is you're to do this year. I know what service He has set to you. I aim to help you complete it as you will surely fall short."

Draco laughed at what Snape said. A sharp bark of a laugh that was so full of disdain it even made Snape falter for a moment, one foot moving back even though he didn't actually take the step. "You think I won't do it? You just want to have a hand in it so you'll be praised by him. You want to see us, my family, fall even further back from him. Ridiculed further and pushed away more than we already are. You're just looking to take MY glory and make it your own."

Snape did step back then, his eyes flicking as they searched Draco's for any sort of weakness, finding none he seemed to try a different approach. "I only intend to keep my promise to your mother. She came to ME, seeking me out to make the unbreakable vow to help you."

"And did you?" Draco held himself a little taller, this time stepping forward towards Snape, closing the distance the older man had made, the feeling of having the upper hand making his blood run hot.

"I did." Snape said, his brow furrowing a bit.

"Then that's time, effort and magic both of you wasted. I don't need your help. I don't need her making vows with you. There is nothing to stop me doing exactly as is asked of me."

Draco turned then, walking away with his head held up, chin raised imperiously as he made his way back towards the party. Snape had some nerve... thinking he could be part of this. Thinking he could take his glory, his success away from him. And his mother... He'd have words for HER over Christmas break. She didn't need to----

He never finished that thought. Someone had grabbed his arm and pulled hard, forcing a none too suave noise from him that would have broke any illusion of superiority he was projecting in that moment. "What... STOP.. I---"

"Shhhhh!" 

It was Harry. Draco shuddered out a half breath of laughter and relief, only to have Harry clap a hand over his mouth and pull him further into the tiny alcove he'd yanked him towards. They waited silently and Draco heard footsteps, turning his eyes enough to catch sight of Snape stalking back up the hall with his ridiculous robes billowing behind him. 

Harry waited until they couldn't hear the footsteps anymore, then pulled his hand back from Draco's mouth, smirking up at him. "It's hard to muzzle someone taller than you."

"You do a pretty good job."

"The way you talked to Snape. That was...."

"I know. What a pompous git he is." Draco rolled his eyes, straightening his robes a bit.

"No... Well, I mean yes... But that's not what I was thinking." Harry said, one hand still closed in the side of Draco's velvety dress robes.

"What were you thinking?" Draco frowned as he looked curiously at Harry, then felt his breath catch slightly at the rather dark look in the other boy's already dark eyes. Something about it made his stomach flip flop in a very squirmy but pleasant way.

Harry was silent for a few moments. Long enough that Draco started to feel uncertain about what was going on behind those dark eyes. Then he closed the very small distance between them. The hand in the side of Draco's robes moved, curling in the front of them up closer to his throat, then he pulled, forcing Draco's head down with a small noise of surprise.

Then Draco understood. Warm lips crushed hard against his own, forcing yet another noise from him, though this one was far lower, slightly cat like and heated as he pressed into Harry in return. It was like reflex to lean into him, to tilt his head so their lips slid and fit together more closely.

It seemed perfectly natural for Harry to push his back up hard against the wall as he kissed him harder.. deeper... Their lips parting and tongues meeting in a slide that Draco would have described as 'electric' if he'd had any idea what electricity actually was.

They broke apart, after several long full minutes had passed, Draco taking in a sharp breath that was half need of oxygen and half shock at the sudden loss of heat and tingling sparks from everywhere their mouths had been touching.

"You.... didn't tell me what you thought me talking to Snape was..." Draco said haltingly, all too aware of how close they were still standing together. That he could still feel Harry's breath against him as the other boy chuckled.

"Hot." Harry said quietly, reaching up and trailing the pads of two fingers along the sharp line of Draco's jaw. "I thought the way you talked to him was deadly hot..."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Harry amuse themselves with Owls while they're apart for the Christmas holidays. Draco finds out a bit about Santa Claus and doesn't seem keen to know more.... But he also lets Harry know that he's spoken to Voldemort. Directly. And that Voldemort said he would be in touch with Harry...
> 
> \-------------------------------------------------------------

**Owls Between Harry and Draco - December 22nd to January 4th**

_Ron wanted to talk about you alllllllllll day. He'd OBSESSED with you the way I used to be.  
~H_

_What do you mean used to be?? I'm offended, Potter, that you aren't still obsessed with me.  
-D_

_Touchy little thing, aren't you...  
~H_

_I'm taller than you, thank you very much.  
-D_

_Touchy AND too detail oriented. This is why I'm not obsessed with you anymore.  
~H_

_If you aren't going to talk sense go back to Bargey and Muggle lover. And Ron and Hermione and whoever else is there. Who else IS there?  
-D_

_Oh Merlin you wouldn't believe how crowded it is here. All the Weasley's, minus Percy, he still isn't talking to his family. Fleur is here which is making Bargey EXTRA loud and annoying. And a never ending (it seems) stream of other visitors. Lupin will be here Christmas Eve for sure. Anyone at your place?  
~H_

_No one staying for long. Lots of in and out, a couple of meetings, but mostly it's quiet. Too quiet, but I'll take it over the zoo you're describing.  
-D_

_Do you know who Celestine Warbeck is?  
~H_

_.....Yes. I wish I could say no, though. Why?  
-D_

_Bargey is making us listen to her. Fleur did the best/worst impression of her afterwards, took everything I had not to laugh and insult Bargey even further. It's late... I didn't expect to hear from you so late on Christmas Eve.  
~H_

_It's a strange year. Mother keeps pretending like nothing is changed. Regardless of the fact that my father isn't here. And she keeps trying to ask really obvious leading questions about my 'task'.  
-D_

_Wish you were here.  
~H_

_Almost wish I was there, too.  
-D_

_Try and go to sleep so Santa comes.  
~H_

_What's Santa?  
-D_

_Oh Purebloods... I'll explain sometime. It has to do with a fat guy in a red suit bringing presents.  
~H_

_Well that sounds terrifying. I think I'll stay up all night so he DOESN'T come..  
-D_

_Happy Christmas....  
~H_

_Happy Christmas, Harry.  
-D_

_Happy New Year. Are you alive?  
-D_

_Sorry, yes. You will not believe what's been going on. Scrimgeour showed up Christmas morning to talk to me.  
~H_

_To talk to you??? Seriously?  
-D_

_Under the guise of Percy coming to see his family. Bargey was soooooo happy. Percy was sooooo uncomfortable. It was kinda funny. But yeah, he wanted to talk to me about Dumbledore. I may not like Dumbledore much but I like him better than the Ministry. Scrimgeour can go soak his head if he thinks I'm going to publicly align with them after the shit from last year.  
~H_

_He wanted information about Dumbledore?? And wanted you to be some sort of Ministry cheerleader?  
-D_

_Uh huh. Ridiculous, isn't it? He seemed to take my reluctance as me being 'Dumbledore's Man' or something like that. Which you know I'm not in the least but it helps serve our purpose. No one will bat an eye at me anytime soon.  
~H_

_How deeply are you hiding these owls? I don't want anyone in that crowded house seeing them if we're going to talk about this stuff.  
-D_

_Burning them after I read them. It's so busy here that no one seems to notice I'm getting them and now there's no paper trail.  
~H_

_Smart... Still, we shouldn't talk too openly.  
-D_

_No we shouldn't. I do have a question, though. Two, actually.  
~H_

_Go ahead...  
-D_

_1- Can I kiss you again?  
~H_

_Now I have to burn these owls....  
-D_

_I wasn't THAT bad, was I?? Maybe I was. I've never kissed anyone before.  
~H_

_Never?? Not ever?  
-D_

_Nope. Have you?  
~H_

_Mmm... Yes...  
-D_

_Who??  
~H_

_Was that your second question?  
-D_

_No, it's a sub question from the first question which you still haven't answered!  
~H_

_Yes you can. But I'm not answering the sub question. What's the real second question?  
-D_

_You're incredibly annoying.  
Have you spoken to him?  
~H_

_I have... My Aunt desperately wanted to pass the message but even without understanding what you were telling me I could tell it was quite personal. I didn't want to give more personal information about him to someone else. Which I told him and he praised me for. Actually praised me. Whatever it is that stuff meant really hit him. He looked ever so slightly taken aback, which means he was REALLY surprised. He said he'd be in touch.  
-D_

_With me?  
~H_

_Yes... Tell me what happens when it does?  
-D_

_Of course I will... See you on the Hogwart's Express tomorrow?  
~H_

_Looking forward to it.  
-D_

\-------------------------------------------------------

Late that night, long after they'd finished packing their trunks for school the next day, and long after he and Ron were asleep, Harry seemed to fall deeper within his dreams.

That's really what it felt like. He had been dreaming, and at once became aware he was dreaming before it felt like the floor shifted from under him and he drifted down deeper within his own mind. 

As things settled around him, he took a tentative step forward and a shining black door, oddly illuminated in what was endless black, was in front of him. He reached for the door knob, turning it and stepped into a brightly lit but very shabby little room.

There was rough wooden floors, a dirty window, a tall but slight cooked wardrobe... And a dark haired boy sitting on a narrow bed.

"Tom Riddle..." Harry said, recognizing the boy and the room all at once from the Pensieve memory Dumbledore had shared with him. 

Tom smiled just a bit, one foot swinging on the edge of the bed. "You do know me. You recognize me."

Harry realized all at once that this really wasn't a dream. Wasn't a replay of the memory he'd seen. It was a test. A very BIG test. "I do recognize you. I've stood in this room before. Seen you before."

"What else happened in here?" Tom asked the question with such a bite, his eyes sharp and focused so intensely on Harry it was like he was trying to peer inside of him.

"Dumbledore came in. You thought he was a psychiatrist or something. But he told you you were a Wizard and could go to Hogwarts. You told him about the things you could do. Make animals and people do what you wanted them to do. You tried to command Dumbledore to tell the truth about why he was there, you thought he was lying." Harry paused, glancing towards the wardrobe, then back at Tom. "He set your wardrobe on fire. Made the things in your box rattle around. Then pretty much told you to give them back. You told him you could talk to snakes. You looked disappointed that he wasn't more impressed."

Harry fell silent and Tom stayed silent as well. The quiet in the room was unnatural and muffled, no noise from the world outside, no noise from the rest of the orphanage. Eventually Tom spoke again, sliding to get to his feet and walk over to Harry.

"Why is Dumbledore showing you so much about my life? The real reason." His voice was soft, but there was such command behind it.

"I don't honestly know. He hasn't ever given me a straight answer about important things. He says it's to better understand you, but given that he's not once ever told me the whole truth about anything, I doubt that's the only reason." Harry couldn't keep the slightly angry and bitter tone out of his voice as he talked about Dumbledore and his secrets.

That made Tom smile a little. Just enough that it actually reached his eyes, which was rare.

"You truly are looking for a different path to follow, it seems. I didn't know how much I believed what Draco was telling me. But what he said, what you asked him to pass along... I had to know more."

"I wish I had more to tell you, I really do. But this, what happened here, and a trip to see the Gaunt's in some rather unfortunate circumstances were all that he's shown me so far."

"You met my family, hm? Well... saw my family... When was this?" Tom moved around the room, running his fingertips along the edge of the windowsill, down the line between the wardrobe doors and then circled them around the short post at the corner of his bed.

"Before you were born. Not too much before, though. I saw your mother, your uncle and your grandfather. And I saw your father from a distance as well. Your uncle was in trouble, there was someone from the Ministry there trying to lay down the law..."

"And did they?" Tom asked, having stopped moving, regarding Harry with open curiousity.

"In a way. Not them, but they left and then went back with reinforcements from what Dumbledore said. Your uncle and grandfather were taken to Azkaban. Your mother was free of them and that's when she..."

Harry trailed off, biting the rest of the words off. He was sure Tom didn't need to be reminded of exactly where he had come from.

"Seduced the muggle, yes yes. Fed him love potion like a deranged teenage girl and was stupid enough to think he really loved her after awhile. Just as well they parted ways... Who knows what I would have actually become had they stayed together. I wonder about that sometimes. Do you wonder about what would have happened to you if I hadn't killed your parents?"

Harry shifted a bit, bracing himself to feel a flare of anger about the direct and abrupt reference of his parent's murders. But it never came... "I do sometimes. But recently it hasn't mattered so much. Without their deaths I wouldn't be standing here right now, would I?"

"No you wouldn't. Do you like standing here? Talking with me? We've never truly had a conversation before, have we..."

"We haven't. I think if this was last year I wouldn't have liked it. But between Draco, everything he's said to me, and learning more about you.... I think I'm enjoying this."

Tom smiled as Harry answered. The cautious way Harry felt around his answer was what he had hoped for. Had Harry answered him with how great and wonderful and amazing it was, he would have ended the conversation immediately and likely would have struck Draco dead within the hour, Dumbledore's murder be damned. He didn't need too many people knowing things about his young self if they were liabilities.

But Harry wasn't committing to anything but saying he enjoyed it. He was weighing everything, admitting that before recently he wouldn't have liked this meeting at all. This was honesty... And that was all he wanted.

For now.

"We'll have to say goodbye. But I should like us to talk again..."

"How should I---"

Tom cut the question off from Harry's lips, tilting his head in a bit and shoving very strong thoughts towards him.

_You won't need to do anything. I will decide when we should talk... We do, after all, have a connection. I will reopen it, but it will be on my terms._

Harry gasped within the dream, gasped in real life as he sat upright. He was immediately and fully awake.

And his scar burned like a bright line of fire on his forehead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogwart's students are heading back to school after Christmas break.  
Harry and Draco steal a bit of time on the train to catch up in person rather than in owl, and Harry is SO pleased to see how much Draco seems to be reforming into his old self.
> 
> After a session with Dumbledore the night after they return, Harry once again ventures into the Slytherin Dungeons to find Draco and catch him up with some very interesting information.
> 
> \--------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always absolutely HATED how Harry approached Slughorn to get the memory from him at first. Harry's not an idiot, I don't understand why it seemed appropriate he'd act like one and just go charging off to ask him about Horcruxes the same way Tom did. He'd seen the memory and had seen the way Slughorn tried to hide the truth. It was so ridiculous that he'd not even attempt to be covert in his approach and ultimately scare Slughorn away from him. Ugh. UGH! In my version Harry doesn't behave like a feeble minded oaf. ;)
> 
> \------------------------------------------------------------------

"He came to you in a dream?" 

"It wasn't a dream, not really. He was using the connection between us and.. magic, obviously, to manipulate things the way he wanted them to be."

"And so he was a kid to you? In an.. orphanage?"

Draco and Harry were in a train compartment all to themselves, having kicked out a group of first years so they could have a private place to talk. Ron and Hermione were still doing Prefect duty which meant they were safe to do whatever they wanted for a little while longer before once again attempting to behave like 'normal'.

"As himself in an orphanage. Voldemort was an orphan, Dumbledore went to the orphanage to tell him he was a wizard and was entitled to go to Hogwarts. That was one of the memories that he showed me in one of our meetings, so Voldemort put us back there. He wanted to make sure I was telling the truth, that I recognized him and could give him details about his meeting with Dumbledore."

Draco exhaled, leaning back against the seat as he looked at Harry incredulously. "I'm guessing you passed the test."

"With flying colours, I think." Harry said with a grin, reaching one foot out to nudge his toe against the other boy's leg. "And he praised you? I want to hear all about that... Tell me EVERYthing."

"Oh it was wonderful." Draco's smile turned a little dark as he seemed to warm further to the subject at hand. "The first night I was back I made it clear to my mother that I needed to speak to him. That I had very important and personal information to relay to him that only I could tell him. But my Aunt Bellatrix was there, and I think even you know how.... Intense she is about him and being the 'right hand' sort of thing."

Harry nodded, chuckling a bit. "Oh yes, I very much got that impression last year. No offence but I still don't think I like her much."

"No offence taken, I don't like her much either." Draco said, settling his shoulders against the padded back of the bench. "Anyways, she practically pounced on me and was saying that I just needed to tell her the information I had and she'd take it to him, that there was no reason for me to need to see him directly. I think my mother wanted to agree with her, but I insisted. I told her straight out that the information I had was PERSONAL in regards to him and that I wasn't comfortable telling people his personal information when he may not want it known. She kept trying to insist and I just kept saying no..."

"Good for you." Harry said, folding his hands over his stomach as he listened, his eyes taking in just as much as his ears. Draco looked well rested... He was sitting straight, there were no shadows under his eyes and he seemed to be gaining back his ego and his attitude. All things Harry rather relished seeing and quite a change from the ever thinning and ever exhausted looking boy that he'd become friends with just a few months before.

"Eventually she let up and left me alone. Though she kept watching me like she thought I'd just give in and spill it to her. At one of the meetings I had a chance to speak up, not all the meetings are sort of open for us to speak out if we want to but I did get a chance. I looked at him and said that I had a very personal, private and important message to deliver to him if he'd be willing to grant me a few moments of his time before I went back to school. He actually looked _surprised_ for a moment. Just a moment, but all the same.." 

Draco laughed, stretching his legs out and sighing a soft breath in satisfaction before he continued. "He said I could see him after the meeting. After everyone left and he sealed the room so no one could listen in he asked me what was so important. So I said the message came from someone who wanted to help him. Someone who had been shown the Gaunt house, the ring with with black stone and the Peverell coat of arms. Someone who knew the box in the wardrobe had a silver thimble, a harmonica and a red yo-yo in it." He paused, shaking his head a bit as he smiled over at Harry. "I wish I could properly describe the look on his face, it was amazing. His eyes absolutely BLAZED. He closed the distance between us while I was talking, I've never been that close to him. He stayed quiet for a few seconds before he asked me who was sending the message. I said Harry Potter."

Harry chuckled, shifting to lean forward, resting his arms on his knees as he looked at the blonde boy. "Did he reel back in horror?"

Draco shook his head. "No... He smiled.... Smirked, almost. He said 'Someone has been telling my secrets.' and I told him that it was Dumbledore showing you these things. But that you and I had become very very good friends. That you were helping me with the task he had given me, that you were no longer interested in serving Dumbledore and his Order... He went quiet for awhile, then sat on the edge of the table and looked at me rather curiously. He asked why I had insisted on telling him myself. And I told him that I didn't understand the message you had given me for him, but that I was reluctant to have anyone else hear it when it seemed very personal."

Draco paused again, a rather satisfied smile curving onto his lips as he rested his head back, his eyes half closing. "He stood up again and touched a finger to my temple. He said I was far more intelligent than anyone gave me credit for and perhaps he had underestimated me entirely. Then he told me to tell you that he'd be in touch... and he left."

Harry exhaled a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, shaking his head a bit. "That's amazing.."

"It was." Draco agreed, stretching his arms up over his head. "The looks I got when I came out of the room. Aunt Bellatrix and Snape and a few others were still there. They just gaped at me but I didn't say a word."

"Snape." Harry snorted, rolling his eyes a bit before he got to his feet. "I should get back before Ron and Hermione turn up. But that's another project right there."

"Snape? What about him?"

"Well he goes to Death Eater meetings and Order of the Phoenix meetings. Dumbledore swears he's a spy for their side and Voldemort thinks he's a spy for his side. Which is it?" Harry raised one shoulder, tilting his head a bit as he smiled at Draco, then let himself out the door and went down to the compartment he'd started off in to pretend like he gave a crap about everything they would be talking about.

\----------------------------------

The night after they returned to school Harry was once again in the Slytherin dungeon hallway, only this time when he told someone he wanted to see Draco, they didn't hesitate.

"Want to just come in?" Draco asked when he arrived at the house entrance, tilting his head a bit in invitation. "Hardly anyone is up now, we can talk privately."

"Sounds great." Harry smiled as he stepped in through the entrance and looked around. He remembered it from the first time he had been there a few years ago, but had a lot less reason to appear uninterested in his surroundings this time.

He turned slowly to take it all in, then made a low noise as he looked up to the glass ceiling that filtered in green light from the lake above them. Everything in the Slytherin Common Room was a little darker, dimmer and yet somehow seemed to lend itself so much more to private conversations.

"I wish you were in Slytherin." Draco said as he sat down on one of the couches.

"I almost was." Harry admitted as he joined him, leaning back to look up at the lake bottom again. "The Sorting Hat almost put me there. But I had been rather brainwashed by everyone I'd talked to at that point into thinking Slytherin was bad so I was rather adamant about not being put here. Now I wish I'd kept my mouth shut."

"I didn't realize the hat cared what we thought." Draco said, rather liking the look of Harry lounging in the couch in his own common room.

"Apparently it does... Too bad it can't also see the future and would have known in advance that I'd regret my decision."

"At least you can visit. I'll even give you the password, everyone has been told rather pointedly that you belong and no one is to ask any questions."

"You're a force to be reckoned with." Harry said with an admiring smile. "But I did come down here to talk to you about something else. I had another session with Dumbledore. Just finished a few minutes ago."

Draco sat up, looking at Harry with renewed interest. "It must be good if you came down here straight away."

"It was.. interesting..." Harry nodded his head a couple of times, then tilted his head a bit as he looked at the other boy. "Do you know what a Horcrux is?"

Draco frowned, dropping his chin a bit as he thought about the word, trying to place it but coming up empty. He shook his head at the darker haired boy. "I don't think so. Another of Dumbledore's riddles?"

"Seems that way. He showed me one of Slughorn's memories but it's been really tampered with. It had Tom and some of his friends and Slughorn. Tom stayed behind after everyone had left and asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Then the memory goes all wonky because Slughorn wanted to hide whatever he actually said to Tom. In the messed up memory he basically tells him to get lost... Dumbledore wants me to get the real memory from Slughorn."

Draco nodded slowly, then knit his eyebrows together as he looked at Harry. "Who's Tom in all this?"

Harry couldn't help but smile a bit, leaning closer to Draco to speak more quietly. "Tom is Voldemort... Before he was Voldemort. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Draco made a slightly odd squelching sort of sound, unable to help laughing at himself as he smiled, rubbing his hands over his knees. "I'm sure someone has said that name before.. But this is likely the first time it's ever been confirmed to me outright. It's amazing you know all of this." Draco paused for a moment, biting his lower lip, his cheeks going faintly pink as he lowered his voice even further. "What's he like as Tom?"

"Just as intense." Harry said quietly as well, his eyes moving around the room and feeling relieved when he saw it was empty now except for them. "Unnerving in a lot of ways. He is so clearly powerful and so confident in himself. Even as a kid in the orphanage there was something so wild and powerful about him. But seeing him our age and the way he handled himself and the way everyone looked at him. There's nothing he couldn't do and it's obvious he knew it."

Draco exhaled softly at what Harry said, the corners of his lips turning up just a little bit. "Would we be friends with him?"

"I don't think he really had friends." Harry said, knowing that both from what Dumbledore had said and the obvious way Tom had acted in the memories he'd seen. "But we certainly would have wanted to be and tried to believe we were. He seemed to have that effect on people..."

"Mm..." Draco pressed his lips together, raising his eyebrows a bit as he tilted his head a bit further, an impish looking coming into his eyes. "This is probably absolute sacrilege to ask but... Was he attractive?"

"Oh yes." Harry said with a smirk, getting to his feet. "Very much so..." He sighed, stretching his arms and looking regretfully at Draco. "I have to get back. I'm sure Ron and Hermione are waiting up for me."

"Are you going to tell them everything?" Draco got up as well, walking Harry back to the dorm entrance to see him off.

"Yeah, Dumbledore expects me to so I better just to cover my trail. But the bits about him personally? That's just between you and me."

Draco chuckled, mollified by that since it was, to him, the most important part. "Sleep well."

"You too." Harry said, raising a hand to wave a final goodbye to the blonde before he ducked out into the hall.

He had no idea how he was going to get Slughorn's memory, he knew it wouldn't be as simple as walking up and asking him to. If he was so keen to hide the conversation he'd had with Tom about it, there was no chance he'd do it again with him.

He felt awfully driven to do it, though. He wanted to know more now, SO much more... He wanted every little bit of information he could get.

Harry's steps faltered in a dark hallway, one hand moving to his forehead as his scar suddenly burned to life.  
He stopped walking, tracing his fingers along the lines in his skin and smiled, realizing this was a nod, a pat on the shoulder almost, to say he wasn't alone.

Maybe he just needed to ask for a little help from the other side of the memory.


End file.
